TrailRax Badlands Bronco Build

[TrailRax]

Great looking build! I'm very interested in the dual battery set up. Can you go into more detail on how you guys have it all wired up? Parts list? I do recognize the American Adventure Lab battery holders.

Absolutely.

parts are as follows:

Bronco Cargo floor mount bracket
Battery hold down kit x4
Dakota Lithium 12V 18Ah battery (well worth it, these batteries are amazing) x 4
REDARC BCDC 1225D dual input 25A charger
BCDC bracket
Wiring kit for the rear mount
Mega fuse holder x4

All of the above can be bought at AAL in one cart.

Six hole panel mounting plate
panelpole2 panel mount housing for two connectors
USB & USB type-C charger panel
panel mount digital blue volt meter
cigarette lighter socket panel x3
Blue Sea 5026 circuit fuse block and cover

all of the above can be bought at Powerwerx.com

The job is not for the faint of heart, but with about a weekend of cranking out wiring it is not that bad. We recommend a professional installer if you can. Realistically, the wiring kit from AAL and one small wire from the BCDC charger go to the battery, everything else is within the eco system of the rear cargo. let us know if you have any questions.

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[TrailRax]

Nice! I just finished installing the RPG Offroad stage 3 Bronco kit last weekend (the non-mid travel kit) with Fox 2.5 coil overs.

I'm kinda jelly of your mid travel kit.

Their kits are awesome. Just knowing their team has worked on many Ford suspension systems for so long, it is their bread and butter and the Bronco is no exception of excellence.

 

[TrailRax]

I'm interested in only a small item on this build: the Heretic dome lights on the TRMR sides. I don't see them on your images. Where did you put them? I'm planning on mounting four (two each side) on my outboard TRMR side rails. Their purpose is general side illumination for camping, loading, passenger convenience, etc. Would you recommend clear, or diffused (white only for me).

More important than your location choice, what/where did you go for your hot wire source?

Minor note: You've loaded this thing up with everything imaginable; I'm surprised I didn't see the TRMR + Heretic dome light hand grip!

The dome lights are great, diffused are our favorite for white light but majority of scene light for this Bronco will likely be Red light, we are playing with the options, red light is less attractive to bugs making it more favorable. Our Dome lights are mounted on Heretic's 45 degree bracket that is then mounted directly to our side rail. it is super small and hard to see since they blend in with the rack. We just have one per side, just above the rear doors, we plan to put 2 more into the rear window plastic housing for camp use.

We have run the wires down and through the hardtop towards the rear and into our dual battery system, this way we do not drain the starter battery.

the handle is great! Do not get us wrong, but with the overhang of the Alu-Cab, it makes it tough to grab the handle, we resorted to grabbing the rack and letting the dome lights sit independently.

 

[Bird Dog Off Road]

The TrailRax Badlands Bronco Build!
Thank you to our partners, their products and brand will be mentioned below!

RPG OFFROAD
Advanced Fiberglass Concepts @ADV Fiberglass
Heretic Studio
Go Fast Campers
Method Wheels
Falken Tire
Rotopax
Rugged Radios
67 Designs
Dakota Lithum
REDARC
GP Factor
Hammer Built

Goose Gear @goosegear
Equipt Expedition Outfitters
Alu-Cab / OK4WD
Lethal Performance @LethalPerformance
HEST

Below we will summarize the build with the specific products we used from each brand mentioned above. Be sure to check them all out! The links above are not affiliates but are just a quick way for your to get to products we use and save your time from researching what products to go with! Each specific product will have its own post following this, it will go into detail on why we went with it after our years of experience offroad!

Suspension

This Bronco is on an RPG Offroad Mid travel kit Which essentially widens the track of the Bronco by 6" total (3" per side) matching similar width numbers to the Bronco Raptor. The guys at RPG summarized this kit as a Raptor conversion system for those who have a Bronco that they wished they could have a Bronco Raptor. The kit is very well engineered and RPG offers many solutions from mild to wild. We opted for the two tube bypass Fox Performance 3.0 shock up front for some better control on the trail. Right next to it is a Fox Performance 2.5 coil over specifically tuned by the guys at RPG themselves and RCV front Axles making this system truly rides better than stock. For the Rear, we have the Fox performance 2.5 Coil overs, RPG Offroad Billet Lower links, RPG Offroad billet upper links.


Wheels and Tires

With our history with Falken tires on our rigs in the past, we knew that the Bronco needed a dependable tire that was both rugged and quiet on the road. Falken offered the new R/Ts and we knew we wanted them. We went with the 37x12.5x17 Falken Wildpeak R/Ts and we are so stoked to be using these, really quiet on the road and offroad, these things grip like no other! We are interested to see how they do in mud and snow. For wheels, we are huge fans of Method Wheels so we of course had to go with their bead grip tires in Bronze 706's

Fiberglass

Advanced Fiberglass was able to fit us in their busy schedule and installed their 8" kit front and rear on our Bronco to match the same new width with the mid Travel kit from RPG. we also got their heat extractor hood to keep the heat down in the engine bay.


Lighting

Heretic studio has always been our go to and will continue to be. We are running their 40" Bar on our rack with the 40" cut out deflector (clear combo lens), pair of quattros on the A pillar (clear combo), LED fog light kit (all Amber), 20" bumper light bar (amber), Dome lights on the rack, Dome lights for the rear window, Ba-2 flood amber for chase lights

Tents

For weekender trips and when we are in need of a lighter set up, we opted for the Go Fast Camper Superlite V1, fantastic tent and highly recommend for Bronco owners that really like to push the envelope of their Bronco's capability offroad. For longer expedition like trips, OK4WD and Alu-Cab USA worked with us on getting their 3R. Lots of customers have asked about the Alu-cab 3R tents on our Bronco TRMR rack, we are happy to work with them as well as GP Factor to be coming out with a mounting kit very soon for 3R tents and similar for your Bronco TRMR Rack. We also mounted the 270 shadow awning LHS.

Communication

We are running a Yaesu FTM-400R with a removable face plate and Rugged Radios GMRS/VHF antenna. Our Radio has been MARs modded allowing us to communicate through both GMRS and HAM. We also mounted the radio on the rugged radios mount as well.


Interior
67 Designs made it easy to organize our cockpit with their Bronco rail, We used their G2 universal Phone mount, Tablet mount, and Magnetic mic mount on our Bronco rail which keeps everything within reach and organized in the cockpit, super happy with it!


Goose Gear
We opted for the Sleep and storage package for the Ford Bronco. We opted for the 1/3-2/3 grey great system and really expands the storage capabilities of the interior. One mention that was an after thought for us but can save a ton of headache for you... If you plan to run a table on your tailgate, get a 2/3-1/3 so your 2/3 drawer can open without hitting the table, when deployed.


Dual Battery system
We used a battery tray under the rear cargo tray that holds 4x Dakota Lithium 18Ah batteries all daisy chained to a REDARC BC/DC charger. This system has an input for solar, output for 2x 12v, output for 2x USB, output for Hella plug (national luna fridge), and output for battery voltage reader.

Storage

One of the easiest and cheapest solutions for storage that we added to the Bronco was the Blue Ridge Overland Bronco Attic, extremely useful of unused space in the bronco making this very valuable. The goose gear houses the ARB twin compressor behind the driver seat in the seat delete as well as tools and recovery gear both accessible from the top of the goose gear and side. It also is a place where we mounted our Blue sea fuse port for all our our output and inputs. In the modules, we house more recovery gear and tools on the smaller 1/3 drawer, then the 2/3 drawer houses our kitchen supplies organized by Step 22. On top of the modules in the rear, We went with the Alu-cab tilt slide due to the tilt factor and knowing the Bronco will be pretty tall. On top, Equipt expedition outfitters sourced us a National Luna fridge 50L Dual zone.

For those who think this build cannot add anything else more... we do have the last few finishing touches going together soon. That involves sliders, skid plates, and some PPF protection soon! Drop some comments and questions below on what you think of our build! Let us know if this inspired your build at all!​

That is one sick build!!!

 

[mikeeshim]

Awesome build!
Throughout my build process, the TRMR really opened up a lot of possibilities for me and seriously can't say enough about that.
I'm eyeing the Bronco Attic but what do you use it for? Seems like a nice way to utilize the dead space up there, but what do you use it for and does it make a lot of noise?
Actually, I just noticed that it's only for the 4 door so guess the point is moot. Still curious though.

 

[TrailRax]

Thats an impressive build, Trailrax. I only use the Half-Rax (Photo) because i do beach day trips and take the top off. Also have a Besttop SkyRider. Is there an awning that will work with the half rack?

I was going to do a similar battery system, the wiring seemed daunting so in the end I simplified with A Dometic Frig and PLB40 Battery. Plan Solar panel on Roof HalfRax. As someone else said, I'd like to know more about your Battery/solar/frig install . . . And how/why its connected with car battery.

There is a lot to it going on, parts list has been posted in the chat. Justin B Mcbrides youtube video of building Orlando Bloom's bronco does it best, we got inspired by that.

 

[TrailRax]

I'm planning on doing a somewhat similar dual battery setup to what Trailrax is describing. I've been compiling a list of things I'll need when I'm ready, I'd imagine Trailrax used a pretty similar parts list (broken down by component)...

Alternator Charging Source Hookup
This component provides a fused power source to the house battery with a master cutoff switch that allows you to completely disconnect the house battery charging setup.

• AAL Battery Cutoff and Fuse Bracket
• Blue Sea Systems 6006 Cutoff Switch
• AAL MEGA Fuse Holder w/ 40A Fusehttps://americanadventurelab.com/product/wiring-kit-rear-mount/
• AAL Rear Mount Wiring Kit - runs the power line to the rear cargo area

House Battery and Charger
This is the heart of the dual battery setup, consisting of the bank of batteries and the charger to manage the power input(s).

• AAL Bronco Cargo Floor Multi-Mount Bracket w/ BCDC Bracket
• Dakota Lithium 12V 18ah Battery (x4)
• AAL Battery Hold Down (x4)
• Battery Bank Bus Bar
• Redarc BCDC1225 Dual Input Battery Charger
• 40A Midi Fuse - to be placed between charger and batteries
• 80A Midi Fuse - to be placed on the "hot" wire coming off the batteries

Other than these primary items, you'll want to be sure you have enough 4/6/8 AWG wiring, terminals, connectors, and heat shrink to get everything wired together securely. It also may be a smart idea to wrap some of the longer wires that are snaking around the frame in flexible conduit to prevent them from rubbing on sharp edges.

With the above, you'll have a power source coming off of your battery bank that's essentially isolated from your vehicle's battery, providing 72ah of power. The Redarc BCDC charger also has an input for hooking up a solar panel, so you can keep the batteries topped off when you're at camp.

From here, you can wire in various types of plugs/ports to connect various devices. Some examples:

• 12V Power Outlet w/ USB Ports
• Dometic Hardwiring Kit
• Power Inverter - convert DC to AC power

It may seem complicated, but in the end, you'll get a pretty robust system that (a) can be easily serviced if something goes bad (like one of the batteries dies), and (b) is completely hidden and out of the way.

Here's a rough diagram of what I intend to build:

perfect write up, this is basically what we got going.

 

[TrailRax]

Awesome build!

Question, I have the two door version TRMR with the Pak Rax, how are you able to mount the RotoPax?

I have the OEM mounting plates that came with the Pak Rax and the same RotoPak that you have in your build.

Does it require for me to drill new holes in the Pak Rax mount? Or is there a plate I am missing?

Thank you

Mope, they should mount right up, the situation you might be in is the the round plate from rotopax, we throw those away because our mounting plate basically takes the function of the round plate. just take the Aluminum body of the rotopax mount and mount it directly to the mounting plate and you should be golden. Email us or DM us if you have anymore questions.

 

[TrailRax]

Awesome build!
Throughout my build process, the TRMR really opened up a lot of possibilities for me and seriously can't say enough about that.
I'm eyeing the Bronco Attic but what do you use it for? Seems like a nice way to utilize the dead space up there, but what do you use it for and does it make a lot of noise?
Actually, I just noticed that it's only for the 4 door so guess the point is moot. Still curious though.

We use it to store a ton of light gear like coats and pants for a variety of weather. we also store pillows and such. Keep in mind not to over load it as it can sag and block your view. the attics are best for storing light clothing and such.

 

[mikeeshim]

oh fantastic - so more of a camping build than overland

Why do you insist that this is an overland build? Regardless, even without any gear, I wouldn't want to stay in the back of my Bronco to hang out during a storm. I'd rather be in a tent or under an awning, with bourbon in hand, sitting on my camping chair and my feet on a cooler.

 

[Bruno]

This setup you can do both overlanding or just weekend camping. I really don't see any gaps here.

the gap I see is you are not able to use the back of the truck to sit in - becasue the floor is too high and storage is on the bottom as opposed to vertical. Which reduces functionality - for overlanding specifically

 

[Bruno]

Why do you insist that this is an overland build? Regardless, even without any gear, I wouldn't want to stay in the back of my Bronco to hang out during a storm. I'd rather be in a tent or under an awning, with bourbon in hand, sitting on my camping chair and my feet on a cooler.

im not insisting anything, i was trying to understand the use case for this build

 

[TrailRax]

the gap I see is you are not able to use the back of the truck to sit in - becasue the floor is too high and storage is on the bottom as opposed to vertical. Which reduces functionality - for overlanding specifically

Yeah, we got 2 chairs stored in the Bronco so we resort to sitting outside of the vehicle under the awning or around a camp fire. sitting in the vehicle cargo space is not very fun to begin with.

 

[omi205]

Looks amazing. Thank you for the detailed list of mods for those of us that might want to leverage some of this for our own builds. Much appreciated. Is your plan to PPF the entire thing or certain areas?

 

[mikeeshim]

im not insisting anything, i was trying to understand the use case for this build

First of all, love your profile pic. Looks like an updated Lightning with Saleen wheels, digging the whole aesthetic.

As for the Bronco, it's built the way they want it, and honestly, it's pretty similar to how I built mine, except they used much higher end components, have a lot more stuff, and probably use it way more than I do. They also have 2 more doors. OK, maybe not that similar after breaking it down. But if I could, I probably would. If I were overlanding, I'd prefer this setup over sleeping inside, since I'd have to unpack everything just to sleep, and then repack to get moving in the morning. I'd much rather cook a quick meal on the tailgate table and climb up to the RTT and sleep.

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